Portfolio Program

The Portfolio Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies is jointly administered by the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies and the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (CREEES). Students pursuing this portfolio program draw upon the interdisciplinary expertise of CREEES faculty across disciplines, schools and colleges. Portfolio students are eligible for to apply for funding, fellowships, study abroad programs and travel grants through CREEES and the Slavic Department, drawing upon the resources and expertise of both units.

The portfolio program allows Master's and Doctoral students from disciplines across UT to pursue and certify their expertise in the field of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, acquiring a more in depth interdisciplinary knowledge of the region to accompany their studies in whatever field they specialize. This provides students with a more marketable degree plan in a range of academic and professional jobs in which area studies and interdisciplinary training is desirable.

Program Requirements

• Language proficiency: Students are required to achieve at least an Intermediate Mid rating on the ACTFL scale in Russian, or any other language of the region (as approved by the graduate admissions committee). This can be achieved through course work, study abroad or an OPI proficiency examination.
• Coursework: Students in the portfolio program must complete 12 credit hours (typically four cross-listed or pre-approved courses) of REE or approved graduate level content courses. The student must maintain a GPA in the required courses of 3.0 or higher (no required courses may be taken pass/fail). All portfolio coursework must span at least two different disciplines (i.e., History, Geography, Business, Anthropology, Political Science). One of these courses must be a research-based course in which an article length paper on the region is written. Of the required courses, no more than one course may be taken as an independent study/conference course.
• Research Project: Students must complete an REE-relevant research project, either an article length paper (can be written in one of the classes as part of the requirements outlined above) or other formative research project, at some point before completion of the program. Projects will be presented at the annual CREEES Graduate Research Symposium, open to the public and attended by the CREEES Graduate Studies Committee, or another approved conference.

Students are encouraged, though not required, to include a CREEES affiliate faculty member on their thesis or dissertation committee.

Students wishing to continue pursuing their interest in the region should consider applying to the interdisciplinary MA program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

Application Process

Interested students may apply for and enter the Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies graduate portfolio program at any point in their graduate study. Applications for the Portfolio Program are accepted on a rolling basis and must be submitted to the CREEES Graduate Coordinator and approved by the graduate admissions committee. Students interested in the portfolio program must submit the following required application materials:

• An online application form, which includes the following fields:
  • your name, EID & email
  • home department, information on degree sought, anticipated graduation timeline, GPA
  • proposed portfolio project, list of courses to meet portfolio requirements, proposed language in which you will meet the language requirement
  • contact information for your graduate coordinator, faculty graduate advisor, and CREEES portfolio supervising faculty (NOTE: your graduate advisor and portfolio supervisor will receive an email from creees@austin.utexas.edu requesting approval for your participation in the program upon submission of the online application, so you may wish to make them aware of your application prior to submission)
  • a UTBox upload tool for submission of the following application files
• Grade report or equivalent, which includes all UT graduate coursework completed (unofficial transcript) in PDF format - save the file with the following file name: YourLastName-GradeReport.pdf
• Description of research project/research (one-page limit) - in PDF format - save the file with the following file name: YourLastName-ResearchProject.pdf
• Personal statement, explanation of why the portfolio is important to your academic work (one-page limit) in PDF format - save the file with the following file name: YourLastName-PersonalStatement.pdf
• Current CV (two-page limit) in PDF format - save the file with the following file name: YourLastName-CV.pdf

When you are ready to submit your application and all supplemental materials, proceed to the online application.